Predator of Man
by Tara Seline
Summary: KotOR Zimithra is a Padawan being trained on Dantooine during the Mandalorian war, but she's not just any Padawan. She has a darker secret than even Revan or the Exile can hope to compare to.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Only Zim and her team belong to me (and Gale, kind of, because he kind of belongs to my sister too hehe). I don't own the star wars universe or anything else... you know the rest.

**I went canon with this and so Revan is female (yes, that is canon thank you) and the exile is male (of course he isn't actually exiled yet)**

**Chapter One**

I was born to a family of nobility. My mother was a wealthy noblewoman by birth as well. My father was a famous racer. I was told it was love at first sight. But I know better than to believe that, for there is no such thing. I never even believed in love until I was eleven years of age. The day I met him... I thought he was a dweeb. We were both students at the Jedi academy of Dantooine. We were taking totally different training courses, but somehow we had met during one of our free periods when most of the students were meditating.

I was taking a walk out on the plains nearby the enclave. There was a small waterfall that fed the stream that ran through the nearby settlement. Few people went out there on a regular basis. I was standing on the railing of the bridge, letting the spray of the water hit my face. Atris had always warned me not to go out on the plains because of the Kath Hounds, but I'd never listened to her. The one day she found me walking along the railing of the bridge she'd nearly thrown a fit, but for all her whining, that didn't stop me either. When I heard someone running up behind me, I expected to turn around to her blazing white hair and her endless reprimands. Instead I was greeted by the sight of a boy a bit older than me, running at top speed, waving his arms over his head like a mad man. I turned around to face him fully, squinting into the light so I could see him better. When I finally realized he was yelling 'help' I grabbed my lightsaber from my hip. Before I could activate it he crashed into me.

He scrambled to try and catch me, grabbing at my legs and the like, but that only made it worse, and I tumbled into the water. Thank the Force it wasn't that deep. I sputtered and sat up, coughing a little. The water covered my hips when I was sitting, so it wouldn't have even reached my knees had I been standing. He leaned over the railing and looked down at me sheepishly.

"I- I- Uh... Sorry..." I held up my hand to stop his pathetic attempt at an apology. He put his hands on the railing and jumped over into the water, sending a small wave over me. "Sorry! Again! I'm- I'm **so** sorry. I really didn't mean to..."

"Just... Stop..." I said holding up my hands again. He promptly shut up. I tried to wipe some of the water off my face and then examined my soaked sleeves. Blushing, he extended his arm to me. I sighed and took it. He was surprisingly strong for someone so clumsy and pulled me to my feet like I weighed the same as a feather. "Thanks..." I grumbled, letting go of his hand and removing my robe, which was thoroughly soaked. I threw it over the railing of the bridge and let it hang there. I grabbed onto the railing and swung myself back over onto dry land. The boy did the same.

"Why were you yelling?" I asked, examining the clothes that I _couldn't_ take off, which were also thoroughly soaked.

"Well, I was being chased by-" That's when I regretted asking. The distinct call of a Kath Hound was heard, not too far off. "Uh, those!" He half yelled in a panicked voice. As I reached again for my lightsaber, he retorted with "I've got a better idea: Run!" He grabbed my arm and I had just enough time to grab my robe as he dragged me away from the scene.

If I hadn't been ladened down my all the water that clung to my clothes, I wouldn't have been surprised if my feet had never touched the ground as I was practically already flying behind him. I finally got myself situated and I was now running beside him, thanking everything I knew to thank that I was a fast runner, or else my hand would have probably been dislocated from my wrist, 'cause this guy wasn't slowing down. He didn't even stop at the academy doors. In fact, he didn't start slowing down until we were standing in the middle of the enclosed garden area of the academy. When he finally let go of me, I collapsed onto a nearby bench, trying to slow by breathing.

"Well!" I said after a few moments of simply staring at the boy and panting. He blushed and stared at his shoes, sitting down on the bench across from me.

"I'm sorry. Really. I didn't mean to do all this to you..." He mumbled. After a few moments more, I started laughing. I laughed so hard I nearly fell off the bench. His face turned a dark scarlet, which proceeded to climb all the way up and over his forehead and disappeared beneath his dark black hair, but he smiled and finally looked up at me. Still blushing he gave a small nervous laugh, "I, um, my name's Alek".

I wiped the tears from my eyes and extended my hand, "Zim" I said through the last of my giggles. He gently took my hand and shook it. From the overwhelming examples of his strength earlier, his gentleness came as a bit of a shock.

"That's kind of a strange name for a girl, but I think that's kind of cool" He said as he let go, the color in his cheeks starting to return to normal.

I shrugged, "At least my name isn't Fred, or I'd be screwed, don't you think?" He nodded and smiled.

"Zimithra! What in the blue blazes was that racket you just made all about?" Atris said as she bustled over to where we were sitting.

"Uh..." Was all I could say.

"Don't you "uh" me, missy!" she paused and surveyed my attire "Why are you all wet?"

"...Hello to you too, _mom_..." I said, squinting up at her distastefully.

She pursed her lips and looked down almost angrily at the puddle I had created with my dripping clothes. "Stop watering the plants and go change, please. Lessons are going to start again soon..."

I sighed "Yes, _mother_." I turned to Alek with a mischievous twinkle in my eyes, "Nice _meeting_ you, Alek" I grinned and he stared back down at his shoes sheepishly. As I started to walk off, Atris stopped me.

"Zimithra Carlyn Lionsheart!" She screeched. I cringed. I didn't know what I'd done this time, but she only used my full name when something was really upsetting her. It was usually something I'd done. I slowly turned around to face the fire in her eyes and the steam rising out of her ears. "You were on the bridge again, weren't you?" She said slowly and angrily.

"No" I lied.

"Don't lie to me. I told you not to go out there! There's kath hounds and kinrath and graul!" She wiggled a finger at me.

"And iriaz and bols-" I responded, honestly trying to push her buttons.

"Zim...!"

"...And fabools and pikets..."

"Zim!"

"...And brith and thunes..."

"Zimithra!"

"And you can't forget the _carnivorous snails_, of course..." I listed off, using my fingers to keep track, secretly reveling in the waves of annoyance rolling off of my senior.

"Arrrgh! Just- just...! Go To Your Room!" She pointed off behind her toward the hallway.

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, ma'am..." I mumbled and plodded off toward my chambers. I heard her taking deep breaths and reciting "There is no passion; there is peace" over and over again. I was grumbling most of the way down the hall once I was out of her hearing range.

"She just thinks she can boss me around because I'm younger than her... Yeah, younger- by five years! Big difference! _Note the sarcasm_..." I mumbled to myself as I walked into my quarters and started stripping out of my wet clothes. I was down to nothing but my undergarments when there was a knock on the door.

"Gah! No, no, don't come in! I- I- I'm not decent!" I said in a panic, quickly grabbing a set of fresh, dry robes and wrapping myself in the over-robe.

"It's just me..." I heard a male voice say.

I let out a sigh. "Oh, ok..." The door opened and Kavar walked in. He smiled at me for a moment, then looked down at my choice of clothing and gave a mock frown of disapproval.

"You weren't kidding..." He said. He looked over at the pile of wet clothes on the ground. "You shouldn't leave those there or they'll start growing mold, you know," he said with a twinkle in his eye.

"Well, you can hang those up for me then, and I'll go change..." I suggested.

"Nope" He stated, "I won't do it. Not until you say please"

I sighed "_Please_, oh-ever-important big brother?" He grinned and nodded moving toward the pile. I grabbed the rest of my dry clothes and scurried off behind the screen that hid the refresher from the rest of my room.

"So, I heard Atris screeching at you from half-way across the academy. What did you do this time?"

I cringed again. My brother was about to become a Jedi master here at the academy. We had tried to keep it a secret that we were siblings, since a couple of the masters here didn't approve of excepting siblings into the same academy, but somehow they'd found out anyways. Atris was also being looked at to join the council. She could ruin everything for my brother simply by making _me_ look bad. Atris and I had been friends since the day I arrived, but once she became a Jedi Knight, whilst I was still a Padawan, she decided to try and mother me and instruct me on right from wrong _outside_ of my lessons.

"The, um, the clothes should explain the majority of it..." I told him a bit sheepishly.

"Hmm..." I heard the thud of wet clothes "I'm guessing you fell in the stream..." I finished fastening my belt around myself and walked back out, putting my over-robe back around my shoulders.

"Technically, I got pushed..." I grabbed my wet shirt from off the ground and helped Kavar hang it up over a thin piece of wire I'd stretched across the room for moments like this.

"I'm not even going to ask what happened..." Kavar shook his head as he pinned down my pants to the wire. He turned and looked at me. "Lessons are going to resume in just a couple of minutes. Go on, I don't want you to be late."

I stuck my tongue out at him. "I don't want you to be late, Zim, but don't mind me, I show up to everything late anyways..." I mocked him.

He grinned and gave me a playful little shove. "Go on, get" He chuckled.

I shoved him back and ran out of the room to the training grounds for my squadron. Yeah, that's right, I said squadron. I said I wasn't taking the same courses as other Jedi, didn't I? Well, that's how it worked. I wasn't like the other Jedi at the academy. I was practically one of a kind. I was put into training that would lead me to become a Jedi Ace- a fighter-pilot armed with the force. But that wasn't all.

There were two other groups like mine, so three in total. More or less, our existence was a secret. We were trained to work as a group, to think as one. We weren't given the same rules as the rest of the students at the academy either. Oh, we were told right from wrong, we were given moral values, but we were never told to follow them. We were never punished if we didn't stick by them. I was told I was a grey Jedi, but I didn't know if that was right, nor did I care. The good side to this sort of training was that it heightened our ability to read other's minds and talk without saying a word. We usually received dirty looks from our masters when we tried doing it while they were still instructing us.

The downside to our training: we were purebred assassins. Yes, I said assassins. That's why we were a secret. To the rest of the students, and the majority of the masters, we were nothing but a group of elite fighters, skilled in group combat. But someone had meditated hard enough and long enough to see the future. There was a series of wars coming that no one could prevent, and if the masters intervened directly, all that the republic had strived to protect all these years would crumble and fall to pieces. That "prophecy" said nothing about all Hell breaking loose if they took action _indirectly_, discreetly. So they chose us to fight for them. Assassination was crude, but effective, and since that was what we were trained for, obviously we couldn't apply ourselves to the Jedi code all the time. We all knew that once this war had come to pass, the masters would want nothing to do with us. We would never be able to return to what we had here or we'd be permanently cast out, and that would add shame to our names.

I strode into our courtyard just as the horn sounded across the academy that meant our free time was over. I was greeted by the sight of three of my squad playing keep-away from another of my teammates. Vanek jumped up and snatched a necklace as it went sailing over Aviel's head. He laughed and threw it to Lachelle. She grabbed it before Aviel could even hope to reach for it, and then she passed it to Jusa, the Twi'lek of the squad. Jusa passed it to Vanek again as Aviel ran towards the Twi'lek. Panting, he then turned to Vanek. Vanek tossed it back and forth between his hands, giving the Zabrak a taunting look. Aviel slowly walked toward the Human boy, trying to catch his breath.

"You want it back, Horny?" Vanek taunted, throwing the jewelry back and forth, back and forth. Aviel merely nodded and held out his hand, expecting his property to be returned to him. I was not shocked by the nickname, because we all called Aviel "Horny". We were kids, we found it funny. He got used to it and it stuck. "Too bad!" Vanek said with a laugh and threw it back to Jusa, who threw it to Lachelle, who threw it to Vanek, who threw it back to her, then she threw it back to Jusa. When Jusa caught it, Aviel was in such a state that he actually fell to the ground, either from dizziness or he was just too tired to go on with their game. Jusa threw it to Vanek, and he caught it, but did not continue the game. I walked into their circle and helped the Zabrak to his feet.

Aviel and I were the youngest in the group, and I was younger than he was. Lachelle was in the middle, Vanek a bit older than her, and Jusa oldest out of all of us there. We had another teammate, but he hadn't showed up yet. Lachelle and I were roommates, so we had quickly gotten sick of each other. Vanek, Aveil and I were the closest friends in the group. Aviel smiled at me as he regained his composure. We turned simultaneously and gave Vanek dirty looks. He walked over and handed Aviel his necklace back.

"I still don't see why you have this thing..." He said as a bit of a joke as he dropped it into the Zabrak's hand.

"It's a locket" Aviel explained.

"I can see that, Horns" Vanek said in his "no, duh" voice.

"It's the only picture of my brother I have" Horns explained further.

"...Oh... He dead?"

"No, but I don't know what happened to him. He got adopted and I went here"

"I forgot you were adopted..." Lachelle said approaching us.

"You'd forget your own name if we gave you half a chance!" Jusa said through his accent. Lachelle threw him a dirty look.

"Don't scrunch up your nose like that, Doll, it makes you look even uglier..." Vanek smirked. Lachelle gave a small gasp and backhanded his shoulder. Lachelle was always trying to look pretty, so she'd received two nicknames: Ugly and Doll. When we were in need of our codenames, she was "Doll". When we were poking fun at her, or talking behind her back, she was "Ugly".

"Hey! What're you all doin' standin' around here? The war's already started, in case you didn't notice, kids!" Our master said as he walked out to the courtyard. We all scrambled to form our perfect little line- just like soldiers. Master Rogen clasped his hands behind his back and walked our line, examining us each in turn as he did. He was a Jedi Weapon Master, so he was naturally the best choice to teach us combat. Since we lined up by age, I was last in line. When he came to me, he smirked and reached out to touch my short black hair. "Went for a swim, did you Zimmy?" He asked amused as he let my wet hair fall back into place.

"It wasn't exactly planned, sir" I clenched my jaw and looked away. He chuckled and turned around.

"Well, Zim dear, I'm sure you'll be happy to know that today's training will give you a chance to dry off a bit" He said as he walked over to a spot where all five of us could see him clearly. He frowned, surveying his group one more time, "Where's Tertuis?"

"Meditating..." Jusa informed our master.

Rogen quirked an eyebrow, "Still?"

Jusa nodded, "Yes sir. I doubt he even heard the horn"

Rogen hung his head and sighed, "If that boy spent half of the time in combat training that he does in meditation, I'm sure he'd be far better able to-"

"I'm here, sir" Tertuis announced as he walked into the courtyard and stood by Jusa.

"What've you been _doing_?" Vanek hissed at his senior after appraising the smug look on his face. Tertuis's small smirk turned into a grin, but he said nothing. He had a strange twinkle in his eyes.

"Eh-HEM!" Master Rogen coughed, tying to refocus our attention. We immediately snapped back to attention. "As I was saying, I set up an obstacle course for you kids over yonder," He gestured behind him, "I want you to split into two teams. Whichever team can complete the course first, using what you've been taught, will get some time off. The team that loses, has to do the course three more times. Get to it, kids" He walked off and sat beneath a nearby tree, pretending to meditate.

"That's Rogen for you... 'You go off and do all the work and I'll just sit here and not even bother to _look_ like I'm doing anything'..." Vanek mumbled.

"I'm meditatin'!" Rogen called out from his distanced vantage point. Vanek just sighed and shook his head while Doll jumped.

"How did he hear you...?" She whispered, more to herself than actually to Vanek.

"He's a full-fledged Jedi, Doll, he can hear through the force better than anyone could without it..." Horns tried to explain. Doll's eyebrows knitted together in confusion and she tilted her head to one side, her blonde curls bouncing off her shoulder. Sadly, I had picked up this habit from her, but I had shorter hair that was always pulled back anyways, so I didn't look like an idiot when I did so.

"Are we going to make teams or are we just going to stand here?" Tertuis asked, leaning against one of the pillars that marked the start of the course.

Vanek immediately grabbed me by my elbow and pulled me toward him "I call Zim!" Doll walked over and hooked her arm with Tertuis's, batting her eyelashes at him playfully. Tertuis gently tugged on one of Jusa's head-tails as the Twi'lek was about to walk toward me and Vanek, but he complied and joined his roommate. Horns joined me and Vanek like he would have anyways.

Once in our teams, we turned to face our training grounds. It looked no different than it did from any other day. Debris littered our field. There were piles of scraped droids and computer parts, wrecked swoop bikes and malfunctioned landspeeders. There were crashed fighter planes and broken rocks jutted up from the ground in random places. When we were younger, it was like our playground. Now it was just a junkyard. Something was different about it today though. The air had a certain stillness that made the summer heat even more noticeable.

"Smells..." Jusa began.

Horns finished for him, "Kath Hounds"

"_Fun_" Vanek rolled his eyes.

"Have we suddenly become incapable of speaking in complete sentences?" Lachelle asked, shaking her head.

"Do you have a brain?" I asked without looking toward my roommate. I knew what her reaction would be, I didn't need to prove it to myself. "Something's moving around out there- and I don't think Kath Hounds go 'c_lank_' so I'm guessing we've got droids..." I whispered to my boys.

Tertuis pointed across the field to a tall pole. It had an electrical current running through it. We could tell because every once in a while we'd see a blue jolt of electricity cackle around the ball at the poll's top end. "That's the finish line"

"Who ever shuts down the electricity first wins, right?" Vanek asked eyeing the poll.

"If you can..." Jusa snickered. Tertuis grinned at him as if they were sharing a private joke.

"Get going already!" Master Rogen called out. We pulled out our weapons and were off like a shot. Tertuis's team took the left while we went to the right. Had I been paying attention, I would have heard Rogen snickering as we ran off like blinded fools.


	2. Chapter 2

I didn't realize until we stood staring up at the mountainous piles of junk that lay around us, that we hadn't been looking upon our own small training grounds, but rather at an image of what used to be our training grounds. During the time that we had been using the courtyard and had been in fighters up above the academy as our training grounds, which had been a few months, Master Rogen had busied himself by reconstructing our junkyard entirely. It now had vastly more junk in it than ever before and had gone over its previous boundaries, thus making it bigger in every way possible.

"That thing is at least two stories high..." Horns whispered in awe.

"Three at least!" Vanek countered, going to stand by the Zabrak.

"Are we even on Dantooine anymore?" Horns asked, still not looking away from the towering structure.

"Can't tell, it's too dark. These things are casting big shadows..." Vanek turned to gawk at the pile behind him.

"They're probably five stories high, now lets get going, all right? The others won't be standing around to take in the scenery, you know" I frowned at the boys, clicking off my lightsaber and drawing out my blaster. They snapped back to reality.

"Oh, right. Sorry" Horns also clicked off his saber, and Vanek followed suit. They would attract attention with their light and the steady humming sound of their power cores. Horns pulled out his blaster-rifle and clipped his saber back to his belt. Vanek kept his saber in hand, twirling it nervously as we crept forward through the shadows of the towers of debris. I unintentionally ended up leading them.

When we came to the end of our first corridor, we were met with the adjacent corridor extending in both directions ahead of us, neither of which we could see down. We did, however, heard the aforementioned clanking coming from the left fork of the corridor. We readied our weapons and peeked around the trash heap that blocked us from our targets. We were met with the sight of a large cargo droid trying to sort the debris. Instead, it had created a mess that was starting to block the passage. Before I had noticed much more, Horns tugged on my sleeve and I retreated back to a safer distance with the boys.

"He's got a phaser system built into his arm, and he's probably set on hostile" The Zabrak explained.

"It's an LB model" I replied, "There's a panel on the back of their... uh, head. The wiring in there acts as a central nervous system on a sentient does, so if I can get one clean shot in there, it will severe enough of the wiring to make it confused enough to stay still a little longer, and then I can get another shot in that should disable it..."

"Knowing you, Zimmy," Vanek grinned, "You could do it all in one shot"

I rolled my eyes "Haha very funny" I turned my back on him and walked back to the corner. I dropped to the ground and crawled on my stomach over to a small pile of junk in the middle of the path. I got up on my knees and peaked over the top of the little mound. The droid had not seen me and was still sorting his trash. I brought my blaster up and rested my arms on the pile, aiming for the open panel behind the LB's head. Just as I was about to fire, either Vanek or Horns had accidentally caused a small avalanche to happen just where they were standing. I ducked back behind my pile as the droid turned towards us, immediately powering up his arm and aiming it at our direction.

I glared over at the boys. They mouthed the word "Sorry" back to me, with wide eyes. When I heard the unmistakable sound of a large droid stomping its way towards us, I mouthed the word "Sabers" back to them. Horns repositioned his rifle across his back and then they both activated their lightsabers. "2C" I mouthed to them and they nodded. We used strictly numbers and letters for our attack patterns, and we had become used to working in groups of threes. The boys ran back down the first corridor a ways, split up, and stood with their backs to either side of the pathway. If the droid saw them, which he most likely would, it would have to make a choice of who to shoot at and who to advance on first to be in range. If it attacked before I was ready, whoever it didn't go towards would have an advantage over it. If I was ready, I could take it out with the shot to the back of the head.

The droid lumbered into view and I balled myself up so it didn't see me. When it turned its back to me to face the boys' passage, I uncurled and aimed for the back of its head. I guess it heard my blaster charging, because instead of charging at either of the boys, it turned around and shot me. I hadn't been expecting that at all, so I consequently fell into the pile of debris that I had originally been hiding behind and the junk scattered everywhere. The boys didn't miss a beat and quickly advanced on the droid while its back was to them. The droid then made the assumption that I was no longer a threat, and it could safely deal with its new attackers. But it had only succeeded in making me more of a threat. I threw the pieces of scrap metal off of me and climbed to my feet, a bit shaken up was all, but my over-robe had a smoking hole in it. Once I had regained my footing, I just watched the boys go to work (I know, I'm a great friend, aren't I?).They hacked at the droid with their lightsabers, while barely managing not to get crushed by it.

When Vanek saw me, he yelled at me, "Don't just stand there, Zim! Do something!" I sighed and aimed my blaster, waiting for the droid to get in the right position. After a few seconds, I fired. Sparks flew from the droid's neck and it twitched for a few moments, before it crashed to the ground. The boys jumped back to avoid getting caught beneath the disabled droid as it fell.

Panting, Horns came up and clapped me on the shoulder, saying "Nice job, One-shot" That was my other nickname. I think I had the most nicknames out of our whole group. I had the two nicknames they had come up with by abbreviating my name, "Zim" and "Zimmy"; Then I had "Ace" for being a better pilot and mechanic than anyone else in the group; And finally, I had "Twitch" and "One-Shot" for being good with a blaster. "One-shot" was more of a title though, and they rarely used it. "Twitch" was just to annoy me, because they all knew I had a short fuse and I'd pull my blaster on anyone who annoyed me- I wouldn't shoot them, but I'd threaten to. "Ace" was only used when they were commenting on my skills, or when we were required by Rogen to use "codenames", as Jusa calls them. Usually I was just Zim, and I was fine with that.

"Well, if that was the welcoming committee I think we'd better stay on our toes" Vanek said, wiping a bit of sweat off his temple and clicking off his lightsaber.

"Agreed. Do you think the others got the same warm welcome that we did?" Horns asked, also putting his lightsaber away.

"Probably but they won't be standing around to contemplate it, now lets get going, alright?" I slipped my blaster back into its holster and marched off down the left corridor. The boys nodded and followed my lead. The next encounter we had was a group of roughly five battle droids. Each droid was armed with his own blaster rifle. We pulled our lightsabers out and hacked them to pieces.

We had an interesting way that we'd acquired our lightsabers. We had each been sent off into a crystal cave by ourselves, but Vanek and I had managed to run into each other. We fought together against Kinrath until we found the chamber lined with force crystals. We'd both decided on climbing the walls until we reached the crystalline growth that was unlike any the Jedi had seen before, and most definitely one that they weren't willing to climb a wall for. We'd jumped back to solid ground holding teal crystals just as Horns had walked in the room. He had preferred to grab an orange crystal much closer to the ground. The colors of our sabers didn't really help us any, but they certainly didn't impair our ability to dispatch the battle droids either.

Once the droids lay in pieces we looked around and realized we were standing in the middle of a crossroads. From the corridor we had entered from, there were three new paths, all stretching in different directions. One new corridor was directly across from our entry point, and the other two together made a path that was parallel to our entry point and its continuation.

"Looks like we've got north, south, east _and_ west covered here…" Vanek pointed out, "Which way are you guys going?"

"Are we splitting up?" Horns asked, turning to me.

I shrugged "Seems the best way to cover more ground, don't you think? We can't guarantee any these passages will give us a straight path directly to the flagpole. This thing could be a mile-wide maze, for all we know."

"Alright, I guess I'll just keep going this way then" Horns switched his saber back on and started toward the continuation of our first corridor.

"I'm going left, so that leaves right for you, Vanek" He sighed and activated his lightsaber as well. I patted him on the shoulder as he passed me, "Good luck, Bud."

He sighed, "I have a name, Zim."

"I know," I grinned and looked back at him over my shoulder, "but it's so much more fun to tantalize you with your nickname."

I kept my lightsaber in hand and inactivated as I crept down my chosen corridor. The next corner I turned yielded more unpleastantries. Three battle droids were patrolling the next corridor. I clipped my lightsaber back to my belt and drew out my blaster in one fluid motion. I took a couple deep breaths before jumping into the corridor and firing at the closest droid. Do to a handy force trick I had learned, I could almost make time slow down- my movements would have an increased speed, but it would make everything else look like it was moving slowly, thus making it so much easier for me to fire off a secession of shots that could disable the closest droid, then disappear into the adjacent corridor before taking any return fire.

I fell to the ground, rolled to catch my balance, then backed into a small nook in the wall of debris. I heard the unmistakable clanking of droids running towards my position. I pulled out my second blaster as silently as I could when the clanking slowed to a cautious walk when the droids rounded the corner. As carefully as I could I pointed one blaster through the wall of metal and aimed it at a droid. I shouldn't have been able to see it, but I was using some of the more polished metal in the adjacent wall as a mirror. I aimed the blaster at the central power-core in the droid's chest and fired two shots, just in case it didn't go down on the first shot.

As my second droid fell the last droid immediately fired at me. I launched myself out of my hiding place and fired at my assailant. I got shot, but the droid collapsed as I did. I pushed myself off the ground. Dropping my guns and pulling back my over-robe that had draped over my knee, I looked upon the damage to my leg with indifference. Yes, it hurt. No, I wasn't going to ignore it. No, I wasn't about to let it slow me down. I grabbed my already torn and smoldering over-robe and ripped some of the fabric off, tying it tightly around my bleeding limb.

I winced as I stood up, but I grabbed my guns off the ground, holstered them, and moved off down the corridor the droids had been in. My philosophy was that Master Rogen would have stationed the droids in places that he knew we would have to cross in order to get to the flagpole. It was impossible to keep Kath Hounds in any one place for very long, so I had to assume that he'd just let them wander through this mad maze.

Speaking of Kath Hounds, I could smell them again. That meant I was getting closer to one of their nests. Nests? Did Kath Hounds have nests? I wasn't sure but it seemed a good enough word for the mess they had made. I pulled out my lightsaber and activated it- there wasn't any sense in pulling guns out and playing assassin on Kath Hounds, they just weren't worth the effort. I intentionally bumped into the wall, causing a small avalanche. Those young, stupid, or just plain curious Hounds would com running to check out the source of the noise, if I was right. Sure enough, two younger pups padded around the corner sniffing around everywhere. They made distressed squeaking noises when they were decapitated by my lightsaber.

It was most likely the mother of the pups that heard their brief distress and came towards their position. I killed her too, but not before she had sent a rallying howl to the rest of her pack to send them on the attack. I activated the other end of my double-bladed lightsaber. Yeah, cool sword, huh? Not only did it have a special color, but had the option of being a single or double blade. I charged into the pack of about five more Hounds as they charged me. I walked out of the battle scratched, bitten and bruised, but with no sign of a bruised ego. After my team would be sent on real missions, I'd have to endure worse and still have to fight. I didn't see any reason to start off soft.

I deactivated my lightsaber and moved on. I came across a few stray Kath Hounds that had wandered from the pack, and a few lone droids, but that was it. I was starting to worry about the significant drop in enemies and was thinking about turning back when I came across a scene I could have lived my whole life without ever wanting to see. I heard gunfire and I assumed I'd come across either one of my boys or the rest of my teammates. Both were true. I'd also found the flagpole.

I could distinguish the sound of a blaster rifle from a pistol, and I heard both firing in succession. Horns and Tertuis were the only people on our team that carried rifles, but all the battle droids I'd seen so far were also carrying rifles. Doll, Vanek and I all carried pistols (myself usually wielding them in a pair). Jusa was the only person I knew in the entire school that used a crossbow. The interesting thing was that it was hard to tell the difference between a crossbow and a pistol, unless you listened to each shot in turn, because the only way to tell was by how fast they were fired. With all the other shooting from the rifle, and the yelling, I couldn't get a clear enough representation of the sound. I slid my saber back into its sheath and crept forward.

What I saw was shocking, but I should have expected nothing less from Tertuis, especially when he had access to Jusa's ingenious plans of deception. I gaped into the clearing for a moment before I forced myself to turn away, breathing heavily and drowning in anger and feelings of betrayal.

What I had seen was… disgusting. Disgusting, vile, and wrong. Tertuis had convinced his team to fire on Vanek and Horns when they had reached the flagpole. Horns had crawled off behind a pile of debris, bleeding from practically everywhere. He had nearly passed out but was still firing around the bottom of the pile when he gathered the strength to do so. Tertuis, Jusa, and Doll had trapped Vanek out in the open with no cover, and standing on his last legs. I found a hover-board sticking out of a small collection of junk at the bottom of the wall I was leaning against. It had a chunk missing from it, but I flicked the switch and it powered up just fine. I hopped on it and glided up to the top of the wall, still managing to stay out of sight.

Tertuis and Jusa had found similar means to get them above the looming towers of debris. Doll had barricaded herself behind an overturned landspeeder and was making sure Vanek didn't go running for cover by firing grenades in front of him whenever he tried. They were just toying with him! I was infuriated! You probably could have seen steam rising from the top of my head had you spotted me.

I reactivated my lightsaber, one blade only, and shot down into the clearing. I jumped off the hover-board and landed on the ground in front of Vanek. I used my lightsaber to block of the blaster bolts from Tertuis while Vanek was more concerned about protecting himself from Jusa's fire.

"Zim! Thank the Force! I was beginning to lose hope…" Vanek said with a strained voice.

"Just hang in there, Bud. We'll get out of this, don't worry" After a few more moments of blocking bullets, with sweat dripping down from my temples, I told Vanek, "Either Rogen set this up to test us younger kids, or he'll be on his way as soon as he knows what's going on, and he's gonna be pissed!" Vanek gave a strained laugh.

Finally, after even _I_ was beginning to doubt the wisdom of my decision, I saw a break in the other team's defenses. Jusa's crossbow got jammed just when Doll had to reload her grenade launcher. Thinking as fast as I knew how, I used my Force powers to speed up both Vanek's and my movements, which used up most of my energy.

"Vanek! Force throw your saber at Jusa's hover-board!"

"What?"

"Just do it!"

Vanek flung his lightsaber towards the small piece of metal Jusa's was balanced on as I used the last of the Force I knew I had to throw mine toward Doll. My saber sliced through the remains of the broken landspeeder and then went on to cut through the small pile of grenades she had beside her. She was frozen in place by a CryoBan grenade. I heard her cussing above the noise of Jusa crashing down the wall, bringing the scrap metal down on top of him.

"Vanek, get behind that barrier with Aviel! Don't ask questions just- Gahh!" I got shot three times in my right shoulder by a blaster rifle.

"Zim!"

"Go!" Vanek clenched his jaw and took off, collapsing behind the pile. I could hear the conversation he and Aviel were having once I had caught my lightsaber, and was watching Tertuis slowly lower himself to the ground in front of me.

"Aviel. Aviel! Get up, damn it, get up!" judging by the small clanking from the pile I knew Vanek was shaking the Zabrak's shoulders.

"I can't, Vanek. I… My legs…"

"I don't care about your damn legs, Horns! Blade is coming down to Zim, and he's got that look on his face. He is going to _kill_ her!"

"Vanek, I know. You don't think I know? I can't do a damn thing, so quit yelling at me, damn it!"

"Get over there and turn the power off on that flagpole. Rogen will be here as soon as you do, and he'll put a stop to this!"

"My legs, Vanek, you idiot, look at them!"

"I'll drag you if I have to, but I won't just sit here and let my... I'm not going to let our friend die!"

I couldn't hear the rest of the conversation, but I had bigger things to worry about. Tertuis stepped off the hover-board and looked at me calmly. I looked at my reflection in his dark grey eyes and I knew I looked like a dead-woman walking. My clothes were torn and smoking, I was bleeding, scratched, bitten, bruised, and dirty. Sweat made the lose strands of my black hair stick to my face. He didn't look that much better, but he was apparently better at ignoring his wounds.

"Hello Zimmy" He said with the slightest trace of a taunt in his voice.

I swallowed and nodded, "Blade…"

"You don't look too well"

"Neither do you"

He smirked and then gave a mock sigh, slowly shaking his head. "Why didn't you see this coming, Zimmy? You notice everything; you always suspect something will go wrong… You know me…"

"I knew something like this would happen one day, Blade, but I figured you'd wait until we were far away from Rogen's watchful eyes…"

"Rogen?" He laughed "Rogen is watching right now. He's been watching us from the beginning. Do you see him doing anything about it? No." He activated his lightsaber "And Zimmy dear, if you survive until he _does_ get here… Well, we'll just wait and see if you do, shall we?"

I activated the other side of my lightsaber just as he brought his blue blade down with a yell. I threw up my own blades to block it, using all my strength to throw him off. He stumbled back a few steps, caught his balance, and laughed.

"For such a young little girl, you pack one hell of a punch, Zimmy."

"For such an ass, you really are one hell of an idiot." I countered. He laughed again and ran toward me. All my effort was put into defending myself. My strength was slowly leaving me and it was all I could do to stop him from cutting me to pieces. After battling with him for a couple minutes I was thrown to my back and I went skidding through the dirt. I tried, but I didn't have any strength left to get up.

Tertuis walked up and placed his left foot on my chest, below my breasts, to make sure I stayed down. He didn't even need to put the effort into it- I wasn't going anywhere. He kneeled down to look me directly in the face, grinning cruelly.

"You put up a good fight, Zimmy dear, but I'm still disappointed in you. Rogen still won't be here for a while…" He chuckled and stood up again. "Too bad- I was hoping to have some fun with you…" He reactivated his lightsaber.

I was slowly drawing out my blaster while he was monologuing. "Yeah?" I panted out and smirked at him, "I hope you rot, you son of a bitch!" Blade tried to jump back and put up his lightsaber as a shield as I threw up my arm and shot him. He partially succeeded, which was why I partially missed. The shot hit his eye and he screamed bloody-murder as he stumbled back and fell to his knees. His lightsaber skidded out of his reach and deactivated itself. He clutched the side of his face as blood ran through his fingers.

My arm flopped back down to my side and I just laid there panting, eyes closed, listening to everyone. I didn't hear any noises coming from Jusa's side of the clearing. Apparently Lachelle had just unfroze, because I heard her running toward me. When she got closer I felt her jump over me and drop down next to Tertuis. I heard her sobbing and frantically talking to him, but I had no idea what that dumb blonde was saying, nor did I care to know. A few moments later I heard the flagpole powering down and footsteps briskly walking toward me.

I opened my eyes as someone gently took my shoulders and lifted me up into their arms. I was looking up into Vanek's face, and Aviel was on my other side. Before I could even say anything, Vanek hugged me tightly to his chest. Aviel took my hand that was closest to him, encased it with both of his, and brought it up to his face. I felt Vanek shaking as if he was crying, but I didn't hear any noises that could confirm that. At least, I didn't hear anything from him. Aviel was another story, however.

I could feel wetness on my hand from tears on Horns' face. He pressed my hand against his lips, didn't exactly kiss it, but then put it on his forehead and whimpered, "Zim, don't ever do that again… Please… Never, ever, ever…" I twisted a bit in Vanek's arms and smiled at the Zabrak. I slipped my hand out of his and petted the top of his head, over his horns.

"And believe it or not, all you managed to do today, Tertuis, was bring this group closer together…" I heard Rogen's voice growing closer. When Vanek pulled away from me, I could see our Master, holding Jusa on his feet. He gave us all cold, hard looks, like that of a disapproving parent. "Vanek, Lachelle, there's an airspeeder over there behind the flagpole. Go get it. You should all be taking a trip to the med bay…"

Vanek gave me another quick hug. "I'll be right back…" He pulled away and basically handed me over to Aviel, who proceeded to wrap his arms around me in turn. I slipped in and out of consciousness from then on. My eyes flickered open when Master Rogen lifted me up and walked me toward the back seat of the air speeder. I woke up again when the vehicle started up and took off toward the school, while Vanek hugged me to him again. When I finally was able to keep my eyes open, I was laying on a cot in the medbay, with only a tank top and a pair of shorts on.

I groaned and sat up, rubbing my head. I lifted my head and looked around. I saw a glass of water on the bedside table and immediately reached for it. My throat was dry and I was more than happy to have the liquid running through it.

"Oh. You're awake" I heard from my left. I lowered the glass to find Lachelle standing there, glaring at me.

"What's up your butt, Doll?"

"Thanks to you, Zim, Blade only has one-eye left. There's no way to repair the nerves that you severed."

"Good. He deserves it. He could have killed all of us, and I have no doubt he'd do it all again…"

"Yeah? Well now he's even more likely to. He has a score to settle with you, Zim, and if he won't do it for himself, I'll do it for him!" With that she stomped off and out the doors.

I sighed and stood up. I saw a fresh set of robes sitting on a chair close to my cot and I went for them. I winced when my leg bumped into the seat of the chair while I was slipping into my pants. Apparently, they decided to heal everything but the bruises. I threw the over-robe around my shoulders, picked up my belt and fastened it as I walked out the door.

As I was walking down the corridors, I noticed everyone was going to lunch, so I changed directions. Instead of heading for my room, I went to get something to eat. I walked through the doors into our auditorium and followed the crowd of padawans toward the food stand. When I got my food I stepped away from the mob as quickly as I could to scan the area for my friends. I saw Revan stand up and wave to me from across the room. I grinned and hurried over to the table.

"Look who it is guys! Zimmy dear, back from the dead!" Revan clapped me on the shoulder and sat me down between her and Gale.

Gale smiled at me "We're glad you're okay. What happened anyways?"

"Uh, it's a long story..." I said remembering my oath of secrecy concerning my training. "Sufice to say that Tertuis isn't in a very good mood today..."

"Really?" laughed Revan, "And since when is he _ever_ in a good mood?" We all chuckled and began eating.

"Oh, Horns! How are your legs? Since you're out of the med bay I have to assume they patched you up, but..."

"Better" He said smiling at me as he drew up his knee to rest his foot on the bench so I could see his now repaired leg from across he table. "They had me swimming in Kolto for forever but they bandaged me up ok. It's a little sore, so I doubt I'll have to do that much training for a week or two..."

"Lucky..." Vanek grumbled. Revan and Gale laughed at him as Horns looked over his shoulder and grinned at him.

Just a few moments later someone walked over and quietly asked if they could sit at the table. Revan looked up at the tall, dark haired boy and nodded, "Sure. Vanek scoot over a little bit so he can sit down" She said looking across the table to my teammate. Vanek scooted over and sort of pushed Aviel a little closer to the end of the bench. The newest addition sat down on Vanek's other side. Alek quietly ignored everyone sitting at the table and began eating, never looking up.

Revan slowly lowered her juice box and looked at him (Revan was a sucker for juice boxes). She giggled before saying, "Gee, not much of a talker, are you?" Alek quickly glanced up and then went straight back to closely examining his food, shaking his head. Revan giggled again. "Well, I'm Revan. Nice to meet you, Mr. Insanely Quiet." Alek blushed a little and looked up slowly. Revan smiled at him. She gestured across the table to my teammates, "That's Vanek, and the Zabrak is Aviel, but you can just call him Horns, we all do."

Horns groaned, "Please don't, I suffer enough hearing them call me it."

"Oh like you really care" Gale said sticking his tongue out at the Zabrak across the table.

"That's Gale," Revan said smirking, "And this is-"

"Zim. We, uh, met earlier..." Alek finished for her, nervously smiling at me.

"So he does talk!" Revan teased. Alek shrugged and chuckled a little, and so we all did too. "What's your name?"

"Alek" He said slowly, like he still wasn't sure if he should talk to us.

"You new here or something?" Vanek asked him through a bite of his spice cake.

"Vanek, you shouldn't have dessert before you eat your lunch..." Revan scorned.

Vanek frowned at her, mouth full. Swallowing he said, "Yes mother" in a rather distasteful and sarcastic tone.

"Um my master said that he'd rather be here on Dantoonie than in the big city on Corusant, so he took me here to finish my training" Alek careful explained, glancing between Revan and Vanek, not wanting to become part of their squabbling.

I almost choked on my milk. I set it down quickly and looked at Alek in surprise, "You're from _Corusant_?"

Alek looked almost as shocked as I did at my outburst. Slowly he nodded, unsure if it was a good or bad thing. I sat there starring at him almost dumbfounded.

"Uh..." Vanek coughed a little and Alek turned toward him, still with wide eyes, "Zim's from Corusant. She came here about two years ago..."

"Oh. Who is your master? Maybe Master Nokonyu knows them from before they came here with you?" Alek turned back to me, now interested.

"I um, uh, he, uh..." I nervously glanced at Vanek and Aviel. We had never had this conversation come up before with our friends. Very few people even knew we were trained as a group, and even though it was strange they didn't gossip about it if they did.

"That is a good question, Zim. I don't think you ever told us who your master is...?" Gale turned to regard me questioningly as he rested his head on his fist, with his elbow propped up on the table.

Seeing that I was at a loss for words Vanek jumped to my rescue by saying, "Didn't we ever tell you guys? Zim, Aviel and I are all trained under the same master" Aviel gave Vanek a quick look of shock, but quickly turned back to his milk so as to not seem suspicious.

I heard the Zabrak transmit the thought "Are you crazy, Vanek? We're not supposed to tell anyone!"

"I'm not telling them everything, I'm just saving Zimmy's butt. Besides, we owe her one..." Vanek thought back.

"How did that happen?" Revan said slightly shocked, slightly confused.

"I dunno really. When we were all first starting our training the high council had decided to conduct a experiment of sorts, that tested how well jedi can be trained to work in groups. You know the whole 'think as one, move as one' thing?"

"Really? That's kinda cool, in a strange sort of way... So can you guys like, link minds or anything like that?" Gale said showing a hint of excitement now.

"Yeah, but it uses up our force energy to do it, so we don't do it a lot usually..." Aviel said looking down at his plate like he was trying to find a way to end the conversation.

"So who is your guys' master then?" Revan asked again

"Master Rogen" I said quietly, reaching for my milk.

"Rogen? I don't think I've ever heard Nokonyu talk about him, but he still might know him" Alek said jumping back in.

"He won't. Zim came here without a master. Rogen's always been here." Vanek seemed all too happy to continue the conversation while Aviel just glared away at him.

"So you switched masters when you came here Zim? Why'd they have you do that?" Revan asked.

"Well..." I started, but was interrupted by Vanek.

"When they started this, er program, they were looking for padawans with strong minds and a knack for creating force bonds, whatever that means" He gave a little chuckle. Revan quirked an eyebrow but decided it was okay to smile, I suppose. Gale smiled and gave a little laugh as well. Alek sat there looking at all of us, finally letting out an unguarded smile.

Vanek was about to open his mouth again when Aviel projected, rather loudly, the thought "Vanek: Shut. Up. Before you say too much and get us all in trouble!" Vanek quickly shut his mouth and sat there quietly giving a strained smile. I leaned back a little ways to see under the table. Aviel had his fork poised above Vanek's crotch, ensuring that the Human boy would do as the Zabrak said. I leaned back towards the table grinning and I took another bite of my food.

** I know people are going to start nagging me for this soon so: Yes, I'm perfectly aware that when you are hit by a lightsaber or phaser you do not actually bleed at all because the wound is instantly cauterized. However, blood makes battle scenes more epic so it's there. Maybe someday when I'm a better writer I'll cut the blood out and fix it up so it's still suitably epic.**


	3. Chapter 3

The weeks went by and slowly but surely Alek found his way into the heart of our group, the occasional joke would come up about our speacial training, and our realtions with the other three teammates of our group improved. Tertuis had taken to wearing an eye patch over his now empty eye socket. One day he told us that he could still see with his "missing eye" if he closed his remaining eye, and concentrated on the force. He said it wasn't a normal sort of sight though, but it was like seeing things in black and white, and yet like a heat-seeking-missile, he could see a person standing on the other side of a wall. When he told us that, Jusa and I both got the feeling that they could have repaired Blade's eye, but because of our assassin training it would have been advantageous for us if he had this new ability instead of plain sight. Revan and Alek had become practically best friends, especially after the first day he started bringing her juice boxes with flavors they didn't actually serve in the lunch room. As it turned out, Master Nokonyu had a fondness for juice as well. It was about then that Alek and I started to really become friends as well.

One time (about two or three weeks later), after a long day of training for Jusa, Vanek and I up in our fighter jets, I was stuck repairing the damage to Vanek's jet while everyone else ran off to lunch. Vanek and Aviel said they'd go and get me some lunch so that I wouldn't have to quit working. I thought it was sad that they knew I enjoyed repairing everything even though I complained about it so much. I was laying under the jet repairing the open panel above me, humming a tune I couldn't remember the words to. I was reaching for my hydrospaner, which I had previously left at the edge of the vehicle when I first noticed he was there.

I couldn't quite reach the tool I was groping around for and I felt someone hand it to me. At first it didn't quite click that someone was out there and I continued to repair the jet. A few seconds later I finally realized what had happened and I quickly scooted out from the underneath Vanek's jet. I looked up and saw Alek standing over me chuckling slightly at the startled look on my face.

"Uh... hi?" I said "Can I help you?"

"No, but I though maybe I could help you..." He held up a lunch bag, "I brought you something to eat"

"Oh!" I quickly jumped up, narrowly escaping hitting my head on the edge on the jet. I wiped some of the grease off of my hands and onto my jumpsuit before taking the bag from him and quickly looking into it. "Thanks, I owe you."

"Don't mention it, as long as I'm allowed to eat with you, that is..."

I laughed "Of course. I'm not like everybody else, I don't care if you break the rules and eat out here."

"Great." He led me over to a bench at the edge of our landing pad and we sat down to eat.

I was scarfing down the sandwich I had pulled out of the bag Alek gave me when I suddenly became aware of the fact that he was watching me rather closely. I slowly turned to him with a raised eyebrow. He looked at me for a moment more and then started laughing. Realizing I looked like pudgy gizka I swallowed my food and turned my look into a scowl to hide my embarrassment.

"Ah Zim. You can be absolutely adorable sometimes, you know that?" He said to me with an amused and confident smile.

I didn't falter for a minute. Keeping my scowl firmly in place I asked, "And just what exactly is that supposed to mean?" Keeping that smug smile he just shrugged and took a gulp of some of his water. I let my expression soften as I regarded him for a moment as he continued eating before I asked, "Why were you staring at me?"

He looked up slowly and locked his eyes on mine. He said absolutely nothing for what seemed like an eternity. He just let his deep chocolate eyes melt into mine. I felt like I should look away, but something kept me there, searching his eyes just as he was searching mine. Somewhere in the back of my mind I heard a little voice tell me he was contemplating leaning forward to kiss me. Right when that thought actually sank in was when he spoke, "I honestly don't know. I guess you're just fun to watch" He me gave a sideways grin and I could tell that wasn't what he wanted to say and that he felt that statement was one that was awkward to make. He immediately turned his attention back to his food.

I continued to watch him for a few more seconds and then, turning back to my food I said, "You know, you've gotten a lot more confident than the day I first met you, and it hasn't even been that long, really."

He looked up at me and after a moment replied with, "Well I guess you guys have just made me feel more comfortable than I have been. I had friends back on Corusant, don't get me wrong, but they never gave me the same sort of family feeling that you and the people I met because of you have given me" He chuckled, "Especially Revan. I've never met a girl quite like her. I really don't know exactly what to make of her!"

I gave him a curious look along with the faintest hint of a smile, "What do you mean by that?"

"Well... It sort of like this: One could easily say that her favorite animal was, in fact, a gizka (or at least it ranks in the top 10) and as soon as she saw one, she'd pick it up and hug it and caress it and coo over it until it exploded, am I right?"

"Yeah, what's you're point?"

"Well that same girl, if said gizka managed to escape her loving death grip, would turn right around and punt the thing all the way across the enclave, run over to the other side and see if it was still alive. If it wasn't, she'd probably be of a mind to fry it and have gizka nuggets, and yet if it was she'd pick it up and coo over it and nurse it back to health after asking it ten billion times who in their right mind would hurt such an adorable creature!" He laughed a bit.

I pondered this, then holding down my laughter (because of course I realized he was right), I proceeded to give him a confused look and say, "So she's bipolar. What's you're point?" He merely looked at me incredulously for a moment and then began laughing all over again, and louder this time. Now, I couldn't hold back any more and I began laughing as well. After about a full minute of laughter I realized it really wasn't that funny, but it was just so much fun to laugh that I couldn't stop. I wasn't like normal Jedi and yet I still guarded my emotions because everyone I knew did. And yet I was sitting there with a boy I knew followed that code of conduct completely, and I was laughing more freely than I had since before I was introduced to the Jedi life. My joy was less guarded than it had been in years and it was over something that was so pointless it teetered on the edge of being stupid. Which, of course, just made me laugh even more. I almost thought I was going to have a heart attack if I laughed any harder. When I finally realized I had stopped laughing and was panting for breath, I also realized my forehead was on Alek's shoulder and I was staring down at the bench we were sitting on. I slowly looked up and gave him a goofy grin that I couldn't quite control, although I tried. He gave me an almost identical look and I nearly erupted into a brand new fit of giggles, but when he hugged me that changed.

I didn't know it at first, but when he put his arms around me my eyes went wide, the rest of my face became devoid of all other signs of emotion, and I held my breath for that mere moment I realized I had held it in. I quietly resumed my regular breathing so as to not make him aware that there had been any change at all and I put my arms around him too, although I felt a bit awkward doing so for reasons unknown to me. I never realized how much larger he was compared to me until that moment, because although my arms fit around him fine, I still felt like I could have been compared to a stuffed animal that a child sleeps with. In his arms, I could just curl up and disappear. He was warm too and it was... comfortable. But of course that was when he let go. I immediately let go as well so I wasn't the one in the awkward position.

I looked up at his face, expecting to see him smiling at me and ready to say something, but instead I was met with an almost completely blank face. Except for his eyes. His eyes gave everything away. Those wonderful chocolate eyes were swimming with confusion and showed signs of someone who might be upset about something. He wasn't exactly sad, or mad, or even happy. Just upset and confused. He didn't look at me for very long, but it was long enough for me to see what was in his eyes. He quickly stood up. His back was to me as he slid his hands into his pockets. He was looking at the ground, sort of, and yet not seeing much of anything. He sort of glanced back toward me, yet without taking his eye off the ground.

"I'd better go. I told Gale I was going to meet him out on the fields to play some game with him..." And then he left. He just walked off without saying goodbye, or even picking up his half-eaten lunch. He left me just sitting there, staring after him, probably with about the same look he had given me in that split second. But I knew why _I_ had that look, at least; I had that look because I wanted to know why _he_ had that look. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone standing up from a spot where they had been hidden from my view from the bench as long as they were crouching and dart down the hallway and out of sight. I was only vaguely aware of this however, and even if I had been looking straight at them and paying them full attention, I still wouldn't have cared, because all I cared about from that day on, was Alek.

For a few days after that, I never even saw Alek. Sometimes as I turned a corner I'd think that I had just seen him, but he was never there. More than a couple times I had wondered if he was avoiding me. I was really caught up thinking about him, what happened that day and every day in between when I met him and then, and any reason why he would be avoiding me, and I never realized I was so completely consumed by thoughts of him until about four days after we had had lunch together.

I was sitting in our courtyard playing a three-way version of pazzak with Vanek and Aviel while Jusa sat and watched us and Tertuis and Lachelle were standing nearby practicing their lightsaber techniques. I was staring at the three remaining cards in my hand, but not really seeing them because I was so busy running back over that day in my mind, trying to find something that would have made him upset. I didn't even notice it was my turn, or that Aviel and Jusa were trying to get my attention until Jusa yelled my name in Twi'lekese. I had lived with a family of Twi'leks for just short of three years so I had picked up a couple words of theirs, and I had definitely learned my name, because then I knew when I was really in trouble.

I quickly snapped my head up and without thinking replied "I didn't do it, I swear!" and then realized what was going on and calmed back down.

Jusa looked a bit surprised and told me with wide eyes, "I didn't think you'd actually respond to that..."

I gave him a somewhat sheepish look, "I was raised with Twi'leks, Jusa, you'd think I'd have learned my own name"

"Since when did you live with Twi'leks?" Aviel asked, also obviously surprised.

"I was brought to them when I was just a newborn and raised in their household until I was about three and a half, and then I went to the Jedi academy on Corusant until I was nine, which you all know is when I came here"

"Oh... That explains it..." Jusa said nodding to himself.

I quirked an eyebrow at him, "That explains what?"

"Well, the way you move. Especially when I first met you it was more apparent. It's started to slip away now, but it's still there if you know what you're looking for..."

"What in the name of the Force are you talking about?" Horns looked very confused at this point.

"Especially when she's in combat, she... well she... dances..." There was a long pause and we all just looked at the Twi'lek. "It's true, I swear it! Watch her next time you are in battle together and just set it to music in your mind and take the weapon out of her hands. She will look like she would fit in perfectly amongst a group of Twi'lek dancers. Just watch, you'll see."

I just stared at my feet while the boys kept on talking about Twi'lek dancers. I could hear them still taking, but I felt someone's eyes on me so I looked up. Vanek was glaring at me from across our circle. When Aviel and Jusa had come to a breaking point, which wasn't very long after, I looked straight at Vanek and said, "Is something wrong, Bud?"

He looked like he just got madder, "Don't call me that" He said flatly. He glared at me for a couple extra seconds before he began again with, "You were thinking about him again, weren't you? That's why you've been so distracted these last couple of days, right? You've been thinking about him? Well let me tell you something: He's not interested in you. He was just messing with you, Zim! You know, to see what your reaction would be. I talked to that son of a bitch and I can tell you right now Zimmy, just forget about him! He's nothing but trouble! Stop chasing after bastards like him," He threw down his cards and stood up, "and start paying attention to people who actually want your attention!" He looked like he was about ready to storm out of the courtyard.

I was a bit taken aback by his sudden temper tantrum, but I quickly regained my composer and listened with a straight face until he was done. When he looked at me expectantly, I knew he wanted me to say something back. I carefully considered what he said, then took a wild guess and replied with, "You mean like you?"

"Ye-NO! Arrgh!" He apparently reached his threshold for his anger and he spun on his heel and marched out of the courtyard, presumably headed towards his room. I watched him go with wide eyes.

When he was completely out of sight I slowly said, "Well. I'd say I was right" and turned back to the two remaining boys.

"What the hell is up his butt?" Aviel asked looking back over his shoulder in the direction Vanek went, and then looking back at me. I merely shrugged because I honestly had no idea. Horns turned to Jusa, possibly hoping he could supply an answer, but the Twi'lek just shook his head and shrugged as well.

That was about when Rogen trudged over, "What just happened?"

The three of us all looked at each other, then simultaneously looked up at our master and in unison said "Hormones" Rogen's eyes momentarily went a bit wider than they usually were, and then he busted up laughing. He managed to chuckle out something that sounded like "Very good, carry on, carry on" and he kept right on past us.

Blade walked over once our master had left. He gave me a funny look for a second and then taunted me with, "So who's life did you ruin now, Zimmy dear?"

I glared at my senior for a second or two, then gave a great big sigh and replied with, "Apparently Vanek's, but I'm not sure how I did so"

"Well it seems to me that you should go and find out, dont'cha think?" Blade smirked at me and nodded off in the direction Vanek had went.

I started to say "I guess you're right" and get up and go after him, but I stopped and thought about it, and then gave Blade a cynical look and instead asked, "Why do you care?"

He shrugged and with a completely straight face announced "I don't" then turned and walked back to where Doll was waiting for him.

I watched him for a moment until I decided his statement was sincere, then got up and this time addressed the two remaining comrades I had near me, "But on the other hand, he is right, I should go see what's wrong with Vanek"

"How are you going to find him?" Jusa asked, looking at the situation logically.

I shrugged and then gave a little smile and said "Trust in the Force?" They laughed and I just turned around and ran off in the direction Vanek had went.

I was actually using the force to find him as it turned out. Because of the bond we all shared, we had this uncanny knack for knowing where the other's were when we put our mind to it. Using the force I could see a "signature" of where Vanek had been and where he was going. It left a sort of light trail in the force that I could follow. AS the signature got brighter, I could tell I was getting closer. When I saw it glowing incredibly brighter than it had been the entire time I switched out of my force vision because I knew he was just around the corner. I sped up so he wouldn't get away from me, but when I heard and immense crash and the sound of something flying into the wall I skidded to a stop, grabbing onto the wall so I wouldn't go flying forward. I pressed myself to the wall and listened, trying to calm my breathing as I heard a loud yell and another huge thump as something large hit the wall.

"What did you do to her? You have some sort of hold over her and I can't figure out how you did it! Let her go you asshole or I swear to you I will _kill_ you!" Vanek's voice was a harsh whisper and I could tell he was trying his hardest not to yell at the top of his lungs.

"I didn't do anything to her! Vanek calm down! Remember: anger leads to the dark side!" I was almost shocked to hear Alek's voice as he tried to reason with the younger boy, but not so much at what he was saying.

"I don't care about the damned dark side, Alek. All I care about is her, and I want her back!" He growled I heard another loud thump and I realized he was throwing Alek up against the walls. At first this didn't seem possible, knowing that Vanek was shorter and not nearly as muscular as Alek was, but I then realized from the sound of Alek's voice that he wasn't fighting back and had no intention of it.

"Vanek I didn't do anything. I never took her from you. If she wants you you're welcome to have her..." There was a pause and with a slightly guilty and remorseful tone he finished with "Those sorts of emotions only lead to the dark side anyways..."

"Are you saying she isn't worth the risk?" His voice rose a bit as he struggled to keep the full extent of his anger contained.

"No" Ha said flatly, "But I can't afford to... I can't afford to love her. The Jedi code is all I'll ever know, and I can't let that slip away even for a moment. She's yours if she wants you, Vanek" There was a long silence and then I heard a sliding noise and I figured Vanek had been holding Alek off the ground and he just let him slid back down the wall onto his feet again.

The silence continued for a moment more until Vanek broke it with, "I hate you. I don't care whether or not you think that makes me evil. Touch her again and you'll walk away with more than just a couple bruises, I promise you" I then heard the sound of someone moving off down the hallway away from me and the remaining man. I peaked around the corner and saw Alek still standing there and Vanek nowhere in sight. Alek was just staring at the ceiling, his jaw clenched. His back hit the wall and he slid down until he was sitting on the floor. He just sat there for a moment, staring at the floor now, and I saw a tear slide down his cheek. He quickly wiped it away but after another moment he buried his face in his hands with his elbows on his knees for support.

I leaned back against the wall and closed my eyes. When my eyes opened again I had made my decision and I wasn't going to back out of it. I turned the corner and walked over to Alek. He took a deep breath and started to take his hands away from his face when he heard me. I dropped down on my knees in front of him and took his face in my hands. His beautiful chocolate eyes looked up at me, fogged over and swimming in pain. I almost couldn't pull myself away from those eyes. I almost got lost in them again, but this time I knew what I was doing and I wasn't going to let that distraction, as wonderful as it was, stop me. I leaned forward and kissed him.

At first he didn't do anything, so I pulled away and looked at him again. His eyes held even more pain than before. All I wanted to do was find a way to fix the hurt I saw on his soul. With a somewhat strained voice and those eyes full of hurt he asked, "Why?"

"Because I think I love you and I don't think love will ever lead to anywhere but good"

"Why me? You haven't known me that long, Zim..."

"It doesn't matter. Even from the first day we met I'd felt like I'd known you forever, like you were a part of our group from the moment it was formed, like you were a part of my heart"

"I know. I felt the same. But Zim we can't..." I cut him off and kissed him again. This time, he kissed me back. He put his hands on my hips and pulled he closer to him so that I was actually sitting between his legs now and he wrapped one arm around my shoulders while putting the other on my neck to hold me up and not once did he break the kiss. The way I was sitting probably should have been uncomfortable, but I could have stayed like that forever.

From that day forward I noticed that Alek was more confident in himself and in his friends than he ever had been before. Even after he had settled in and nestled himself firmly into our group. He smiled every time he saw me, but he only ever kissed me or held me when we were absolutely sure we were alone. We often met out on the bridge where our first meeting had actually first happened. The first person to find out was Revan.

I told her when we were sitting in the garden meditating together about a week and a half after the incident in the hallway. We were the only ones there and I couldn't keep it in any longer. Revan was one of my best friends and pretty much the only girl. I had to tell her and I knew she'd understand. We were sitting across from each other and I whispered to her that I had to tell her something and it couldn't wait. Revan merely opened one eye and looked at me, then closed it again.

"Rev, I'm serious. I need to talk to you..." I poked her knee.

She sighed and opened her eyes "Alright I'm listening. Go on, what is it you wanted to tell me?"  
>I grinned, unable to control myself and then I blabbed out everything in what seemed like one breath. I told her how we had had lunch together that one day and then how just a few days later I had learned of Vanek's feelings and run after him to make sure he was alright and found him yelling at Alek, and how I had kissed him and then I told her about every time we had met outside of the enclave grounds and every sweet little thing he had done and just generally everything, as I said. Revan sat there with a completely straight face and listened to all of it. When I was finished I sat there panting, with this huge, stupid grin plastered on my face.<p>

She looked down, away from my face and said, "I see..."

My mouth dropped open, "That's all you can say? 'I see'? Revan! We're in love and you're the only one who knows and all you can say is 'I see'?"

She looked back up at me with that same blank face. She stared straight into my eyes for a moment and then she sighed and shook her head, "Zimmy I understand what you're going through, but I don't know what you expect me to say..."

"That you're happy for me? That you knew it all along? I don't know! Anything! Something! Not just 'I see'!"

She looked up at me and in all seriousness said "Zimmy he's to old for you" My mouth hung open again. I wanted to say something, but I couldn't seem to get my jaw to work at all. "Zimmy you're eleven! He's sixteen! He's my age! Imagine what other people would say if they found out. Even Kavar! He's your brother, he wouldn't reprimand you for stupid things like love will lead to the dark side, but really Zim, do you think he'd approve of this five-year difference? I know, I know, you're thinking 'by the time we'll be able to do anything about it anyways the age difference won't matter' but Zim it _does_ matter. 'Cause it matters right now. We aren't in the future where it won't matter we are right here, right now, where this is a big issue."

She kept talking but I toned her out. I didn't want to listen to her reprimand me on something like this. I thought I could trust her. I _knew_ I could trust her. I knew she'd understand. What happened to the Revan I knew? The one that would stand up for her friends and announce to the galaxy that they were right, even when she knew that they were completely wrong. Who stood beside me in battle before, and stood beside me to protect Gale from all the insults he would take because of his naturally purple hair, and who stood beside me when I was feeling blue, and sat beside me when I was too ill to stand? That's when it hit me: Revan never babbles this much. She doesn't even talk this much to inanimate objects (which we often catch her trying to have conversations with, with the excuse that no one else in their right mind would talk to her) or to her pet gizka, Snuffles, who she constantly reminds that it's the cutest gizka in existence. There was only one possible explanation for her behavior.

"You're in love with him..." I managed to say.

Revan's eyes went wide and her mouth snapped shut. She stared at me, eyes wide, and I could practically see all the gears turning in her head. She was looking for an alibi. A quick excuse. Well she wouldn't find one, I wasn't going to give her that satisfaction.

"That explains so much. I knew there was a reason you were trying to spend so much time with him lately. You even asked your master if you could switch your schedule around so that you had your breaks at the exact same times he does, didn't you? And you learned that ball game that he and Gale are always out on the fields playing. Hell, I don't even know what it's called and I've watched them play about five times already. He hates pazzak, and you love it, but I haven't seen you pick up your deck once in weeks! Gale even asked you to play with him and you turned him down, knowing full well that he hardly ever plays! You gave up pazzak so he wouldn't think less of you!" I almost started laughing as I realized every other little quirk that had changed about Revan to make Alek happy.

She clenched her jaw and her eyebrows knitted together to form a look somewhere on the crossroads between confused, sad, and angry. She stood up and looked down at me with that same look. She said simply, "I'll be seeing you, Zim" I stopped laughing and started to say something but she turned and walked away in what I thought was a fairly calm manner, considering her only secret had just been revealed and she'd been laughed at and had the man she loved stolen by her best friend.

I suppose that's when everything really started happening. Revan was so torn up inside that eventually it all just poured out into everything she did. She became reckless and clumsy. Not clumsy physically, mind you, because she was still as graceful as ever both on and off the practice field, but clumsy in the sense that she didn't truly care what the consequences of her actions were. True she was known, like me, for getting into trouble, but she could always talk her way out of it or go through with her punishment until the very end, but now she was different. Now, if she did something, she wouldn't even bother to attempt to atone for her wrong-doings, or even try to talk her way out of punishment. She did what she wanted, when she wanted, regardless of anything else in the universe. It couldn't have been more than two weeks after our talk that rumors started circulating around the academy. Rumors about Revan... and the war.


	4. Chapter 4

It was a little under a month after our talk that rumors became facts, and facts became actions. Revan interrupted everyone's break time one day to give a speech. She told everyone that she would not stand for what was happening out on the field of battle and that she was leaving the academy in order to do her part to make sure the Republic would still stand. She said that anyone who wanted to join her was able to do so, so as to keep our slice of the galaxy unsoiled by mandalorian hands. She left the enclave the next day, but waited an entire week before leaving the planet entirely.

Many of the students believed Revan was right, but not all of them who agreed with her left with her. Those who agreed but did not leave feared the wrath of their masters. The masters were appalled by her decision to rush head first into battle without seriously thinking about it. They told the students that rash decisions were a small but sadly effective taint from the dark side of the force. Too many of the students were concerned about their standing in the force and with the masters, so they did not follow Revan. There were many who did though.

I was already dismayed at the fact that Revan's outburst was most likely my fault. I feared this may be the start of Revan losing her mind, dark side be damned. Well, at least she was using her powers of crazy for some form of good. Three days after Revan's announcement, I got word of which of my friends would be going with her.

I was laying in the grass, just outside of the settlement surrounding the enclave. Rogan had been making us do muscle-building exercises all morning for approximately five and a half hours straight. I was sore and tired, so I decided to just lay there and relax, possibly take a nap. It was a warm day with just enough of a breeze so that the wrath felt comfortable, and the clouds were fun to watch. I was nearly asleep when he walked up.

"Zimmy? You awake?"

I opened one eye and looked up at the nap-ruiner. I sighed and closed my eyes again, "I am now"

"Sorry" he said. I waved my hand to show him it was alright. I felt him sit down next to me in the grass so I yawned, sat up and looked over at him. He was idlely plucking pieces of grass, his brow knotted as though he were contemplating something.

"So what was so terribly important that it could wait until after my nap?"

"I thought I should tell you, Zimmy. Well... Ok, I _know_ I should tell you..." He took a deep breath, looked me square in the eyes and said, "I'm leaving. They just made me a knight a couple of days ago, as you know, and since my training is done, well, I'm leaving with Revan tomorrow"

I stayed silent, my eyes wide and my mouth open slightly. Finally, I snapped, and said, "What? Gale, why?"

His purple hair fluttered gently as the wind picked up. He sighed, shaking his head as he looked back down at the grass. "Because she's right. The Republic will fall to the Mandalorians if they don't get some help soon. They are in deep poodoo right now and only the force is strong enough to save them. So I'm going to see if I can't make a difference"

I sat there and stared at him. When he realized I wasn't talking he looked up at me again. He gave me that sad but determined look that he'd perfected to perfectly communicate that he had made up his mind and nothing I could say was going to change his decision, but he was sorry he was leaving his friends to put himself in mortal danger, even though he knew it was the right thing to do. Finally I lowed my eyes, letting the reality of the situation sink in, and I said quietly to him, "If that's what you want, then I won't stop you from it. I think it's a noble cause, honestly, I just don't think I like how Revan plans to execute it. I'll miss you, Gale"

He gave me a sad smile, then reached out for me and pulled me closer to him, giving me a nice big hug. "I know," he said quietly, "I will miss you as well Zimmy, and if I live through this, I'll find you straight away and we'll catch up on everything I'll have missed. I promise I will talk to you whenever and however I can. It won't be that long, really. When I get back, you'll be saying "Gale? Why are you here? You just left yesterday!" and then we'll laugh about it and talk about our lives over a game of Pazzak." I gave a little giggle and pulled away from his hug. He smiled and gave me a kiss on the forehead, "You'll always be my little sister, Zim. No war will ever change that. Make sure you remember that." I nodded and clenched my jaw so I wouldn't cry. Gale had been my first friend when I came to the enclave years ago. I never even hung out with anyone in my squadron back then, but Gale was right there from the beginning, holding my hand and leasing me around the school like a puppy. Now I wouldn't see him for force knows how long.

He stood up, holding my hands, and pulled me up too. He let go of my hands briefly to pick up his bag from off the ground. Then he turned to me again. "Well," He gave a great big sigh as he looked back over his shoulder towards the settlement and scanned all the way around it, looking towards the enclave, "I guess this is it" He looked at me, the determined look returned to its place on his face, "Goodbye Zimmy, at least for a little while" I clenched my jaw tighter and nodded curtly at him. I was almost hoping he'd leave quickly so he wouldn't see me cry. He held out his hand and I shook it, then, with one final look and a nod, he turned and left. I stood and watched him go until I couldn't see him anymore, then I ran as fast as I could back to the enclave.

Tears were streaming down my face by the time I reached my training grounds. I leaned against the wall, letting my legs go weak and let the wall support me entirely. The wetness rolled down my cheeks and off my chin, slowly starting to soak through my shirt. I quickly wiped my face with my sleeve after I started to feel the tears on my skin. I slid down the wall, taking deep breaths to try and calm myself. I sat there quietly looking around the empty training grounds with foggy eyes, wondering why I couldn't blink back this haze. I knew I was younger than all my friends and most others I knew well, yet still I knew I shouldn't cry like this I was a Jedi. Jedi don't cry. On top of that, I was an assassin. Assassins are ruthless killers, aren't they? They're not supposed to even have hearts! Another tear rolled down my face and landed in my lap. I glared angrily at the wet spot it left on my leg. I wiped up the last of my tears into my sleeves, sniffled up my runny nose and got up. I started heading toward the dorm rooms to see if I could find someone to cheer me up.

I wandered aimlessly through the corridors, finally stopping in front of Alek's room. I wasn't supposed to go into any boys room besides Kavar's, because he was my brother, even though I sometimes went to visit Gale, though people had suspicions of him being gay so no one really thought much of it. Thoughts of my visits with Gale made my eyes fog up again and I quickly knocked on the door to persuade the flow to stop its upcoming onslaught. Just as the fist couple of tears started their descent the door opened. Alek looked down at me, smiling at first, until he noticed the wetness rolling of my chin. The corners of his mouth dropped and his eyes lost their cheery sparkle. He quickly looked down each side of the hallway before ushering me in. Once the door was closed he wrapped me in his arms and just held me until my sobbing slowed.

He gave me a sad smile as he wiped the tears from my face, "Shh Zim, it's alright. Why don't you tell me what's wrong?"

I sniffed nodding my head, then went and sat down on the small sofa he had in his room. He sat down next to me and I snuggled up against him as he put and arm back around my shoulders. I took a few deep breaths and tried to talk, but I couldn't. All I managed to choke out was, "Leaving... with Revan... Gale... Told me..." I sniffed some more and buried my head in his chest.

Alek gave a deep sigh, "So you know then" His voice was very sad, "I hoped I would be able to tell you first, to soften the blow some... Don't worry Love, it won't be that long you'll see..." He gave me a light squeeze.

"But... But..." I shut my eyes tightly, took a deep breath and forced myself to talk like a real person, holding back my emotions, "But he's my best friend! He was my friend longer than even Revan was. I don't even know if I'll ever see him again. For all I know he could die tomorrow! I already screwed up and lost Revan as a friend, and now I've basically lost Gale too..." I gritted my teeth so that I wouldn't cry again. I wouldn't let myself cry.

Alek was silent for a long while before he finally said in a quiet voice, "Oh..."

"Oh what?" I looked up at him. He turned away and would not meet my gaze, "Alek? What is it? What's going on?"

He sighed and hung his head, still refusing to look at me, "I... I thought Gale had told you... That I was leaving... I didn't even know he had decided to go with me..."

My mouth fell open in shock and I quickly pulled away from him. As his arm fell from my shoulders he looked up at me, those big chocolate eyes of his looking like they were melting. His jaw was clenched in an attempt to keep himself from showing too much emotion. He gave another big sigh as he turned away from me, hanging his head in dismay, his hands clasped together on his knees. I couldn't talk, I couldn't cry, I couldn't even make any faces at him. I felt like my life had run out if me. Like I was a lifeless doll sitting there, waiting for some little girl to pick me up and give me the voice and movement I didn't have. I felt like all my limbs had turned to hollow plastic. When I finally remembered to breath everything came rushing back all at once. I felt like I'd just run into a wall full speed. Everything started to go fuzzy and I slipped to the floor.

I didn't pass out, but I felt so weak. As soon as I started to slide Alek jumped from his seat and flew forwards to catch me before I hit the floor. He held me gingerly in his arms, looking down at me like the world was ending and these were his last seconds to live. He gently petted my face, a single tear sliding off his face and landing on my chest, over my heart. He slowly lifted me up towards him and kissed me sweetly on my lips. We both cried into the kiss. When we finally pulled away we hugged each other, still sobbing on one another's shoulders.

"I'll always love you Zimithra," He whispered in my ear, "Never forget that."

"Don't forget about me..." I whispered back, though my throat was tight and my voice thick with tears.

He gave me a gentle squeeze, "Never my love" He pulled back and gave me a kiss. He helped me to my feet and we stood there in each other's embrace for a few more moments before he let go, giving me that sad but determined look I had seen not so long ago on my best friend's face. He walked over to his bed and grabbed a bag that I had failed to notice. He swung it over his shoulder, then turned back to me.

I squeezed his hand tightly, looking up into his chocolate eyes, eyes that would stay in my dreams for years and years to come. "I love you Alek" He leaned down and kissed me for the last time. He clenched his jaw and turned away before any more emotion would keep him from leaving, and carried himself and his bag towards the door. He paused briefly in the open doorway, turning to look at me again. He smiled, then was gone.

That was the last I ever saw of my first love. I heard many things about him and Revan, sometimes even Gale throughout the years, but I never saw him again. One day, I stopped hearing about him altogether, and I had wondered if he'd died, but within a few months I heard of him and Revan again. No one had ever suspected those two of being the ones we would be fighting against within just a few years of the war with the Mandalorians, but that's another story.

**This isn't the end, don't worry. The next chapter is where we really start to see how Zim ties into where the games take place. If you haven't figured this out by now: This story is all just basically a background for another story that I will be doing in the future (although so far I like this one better anyways lol) Hopefully I will be able to write more soon. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. Please review**


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